Music
The use of music during a Holocaust Memorial Day event can be an evocative tool to promote learning about the Holocaust and understanding of the contents of your event.
There are several ways of incorporating music into an event. These include live performances by a Klezmer band, a Gypsy band or a gay choir for example or performances by local music groups or choirs. A musical interlude during an event can provide a time for reflection, which may be particularly welcome if there has been a particularly moving or harrowing element to the event.
You may find it appropriate to include music by Jewish composers whose work was banned by the Nazis. These included Mahler, Mendelssohn or Meyerbeer. You could consider music by exiled Jewish composers including Hans Gal, Peter Gelhorn or Karl Rankl. Composers who were murdered during the Holocaust include Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas or Viktor Ullmann.
Jazz was seen as degenerate and lacking form. Jazz and Blues were also seen by the Nazis as associated with Black music and Black people were seen by the Nazis as racially inferior to the Aryans and including Jazz or Blues music from the 1930s and 40s may add a lighter note and will offer a recognition of other groups who faced Nazi persecution.
A large body of music was created in concentration camps and ghettos or as a response to the Holocaust and later genocides and use of this music is also suitable for use during HMD commemorations. This music includes Brundibar by Hans Krasa and work by Rwandan musician Jean Paul Samputu who lost members of his family in the genocide in 1994.
You may wish to draw inspiration from The Cellist of Sarajevo. This is a novel inspired by true events. During the Siege of Sarajevo Cellist Vedran Smajlović played throughout the city, despite great personal danger. His courage and talent drew International attention to the plight of those trapped in Sarajevo. Smajlović was most well known for playing Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor.
Previous events have included new music created specifically for Holocaust Memorial Day – compositions have been sold in aid of local charities which help refugees from genocide. Composers can use the testimony of survivors or poetry as inspiration for new work.
The HMD education website contains a range of music lessons suitable for primary, secondary and post-16 students.
You can download a podcast of El Male Rachamim, a Jewish prayer of remembrance for victims of the Holocaust, which includes a haunting piece of shofar music.
A Song of Hope - Howard Goodall
Composer Howard Goodall composed A Song of Hope for Holocaust Memorial Day 2010.
